#YOLO. 10 years ago if someone were to say that phrase you would have no clue what they were talking about. Since the rise of the Internet started in the early 90s, the network population has grown from millions to billions. Social media has become a regular stopping point for most, including actors, activists, government organizations, and the everyday citizen. To me, this raises an important question: Is current social media being used for what it was intended for?
In the article “Small Change, Why the revolution will not be tweeted,” Malcome Gladwell insists that social media be nothing more than a “weak tie.” It may be great for communicating with friends and catching up with people you don’t see on a regular basis, but it is not a place to make a true change. Gladwell goes on to discuss the events that happened in Greensboro NC in the 1960s, where 4 young men sat down for a cup of coffee in a local lunch spot and ended creating a civil rights “fever” in several states. He states “Fifty years after the most extraordinary episodes of social upheaval in American history, we seem to have forgotten what activism is.” He points out that “these events in the early sixties become a civil-rights war that engulfed the South for the rest of the decade-and it happened without e-mail, texting, Facebook, or Twitter.” I agree with Gladwell and feel that social media is not being used for what it was created for. He states in his article that "real social problems cannot be solved with powerless voices hiding behind a computer".
In the rebuttal article “Biz Stone on Twitter and Activism” written by Biz Stone himself he starts out by making a strong statement “communication among individuals in real time allows many to move together as one-suddenly uniting everyone in a common goal”. To me, this is a great thought, but that is all it is, a thought. For you to fully understand why I feel this way, let me share a little Twitter history with you. Created in March of 2006 3 friends wanted a application for their phones and computers to share news and gossip with other friends in real time speed without using email or wasting text messages. The name was said to be inspired by the photo sharing website Flickr and the idea of “chirps” of information, later called “tweets” merged together to form the name Tweeter. After word of mouth, several “tweets” and a few short years later, Twitter is now the top social media app. used today. To the makers of the application, they are impressed and proud of how many lives Twitter has changed to date. In the article “The History of Twitter” written by Mark Johnson, he states “Social media and microblogging site Twitter has changed political communication profoundly. In the past, political news and commentary was only reported by a select group of those “in the know”. But today, we see both politicians and the Average Joe on Twitter sharing their political banter and opinions. It is a new era of citizen journalists and we see people speaking up and speaking out about the things that are important to them.”
Is that to say that the 15,000,000 active Twitter users are using it strictly for important news issues as it was intended? I find this quote very interesting because this is not the Twitter I know and enjoy. In the current generation social media has become a place for gossip, and non-important issues to travel fast. It is a place to “like” and “follow” celebrities that you will most likely never meet, only to feel like you really know them. Don’t get me wrong, I love my fair share of Hollywood gossip, but what is it helping? I don’t doubt that Twitter and Facebook can’t provide news at a fast pace, but it’s what we choose to do with that news that is what is really important. Twitter was created to keep people up to date on real social problems and empower people to act on it, but instead, people choose to hide behind their computers and essentially become voiceless for the issues that really matter. In the same article Mark Johnson lists the current five most popular Twitter accounts. Coming in at number 1, the one and only Lady Gaga (@ladygaga), and not far behind is the young pop singer Justin Bieber (@justinbieber). To me, for a site that has supposedly changed political communication “profoundly” I find it odd that the top two Twitter accounts are from celebrity singers. In fact, out of the top 5, the only non pop-singer is President Barack Obama who came in at number 5 with almost 26,000,000 followers.
Even with that information Biz Stone argues, “Big change can come in small packages too” “Lowering the barrier to activism doesn’t weaken humanity, it brings us together and it makes us stronger.” I agree that power in numbers can truly achieve greatness, and in recent events Twitter and other social media outlets have brought great change in China and other countries. In the article “The Revolt of China’s Twittering Classes” written by Young Hu, we learn about a man named Lui Xiaobo. Xiaobo was awarded the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize in China for his accomplishments with organizing a non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China. Young states “That award comes at a crucial moment in Chinese politics, as it may well become a stepping stone on China’s long match toward greater freedom.” Though I agree that Young has many good points as he insists that Twitter is a major tool used in today’s social activism issues, but I find it interesting that we are not seeing the same results in America? Are we as Americans really that selfish and naïve that we have forgotten what is important and what is worth fighting for? What social crisis are we solving with the tools even to us?
As you can tell this is, and will always be a controversial subject with loaded responses from many. I acknowledge that we have seen amazing changes in social activism all with using social media as the main tool, but to me I don’t believe that we can create big enough change with social media alone. In order for real change to happen in America, face to face communication, time and hard work will always trump social media outlets.
Works Cited
- Hu,Yong. “The Revolt of China’s Twittering Classes.” Project Syndicate.” 14 Oct. 2010: World Affairs. Web. 20 Jan. 2014.
- Johnson, Mark. “The History of Twitter” Socialnomics. 23 Jan. 2013. Web. 23 Jan. 2014
- Gladwell, Malcolm. “Small Change: Why The Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted.” TheNew Yorker Online. The New Yorker, 4 Oct. 2010. Web. 17 Jan. 2014.
- Stone, Biz. “Exclusive: Biz Stone on Twitter and Activism.” The Atlantic Online. The Atlantic, 19 Oct. 2010. Web. 16 Jan. 2014.
Comments
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